East Lansing, Mich. - Correcting what could be considered a decades-long oversight, the late NFL Hall of Famer Herb Adderley is finally headed to the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Michigan State announced the 2022 Hall of Fame Class on Tuesday. The class of nine, which will be inducted into the Hall on Friday, Sept. 9, includes:
Herb Adderley (football), Draymond Green (basketball), Greg Jones (football), Kathy DeBoer (volleyball, women’s basketball), Joan Garety (women’s golf), Laura (Heyboer) Heethuis (women’s soccer), Kalisha Keane (women’s basketball), Karen Langeland (women’s basketball coach) and Bob Steele (men’s track and field).
“This is a tremendous Hall of Fame class, one that includes NCAA Champions, National and Big Ten Players of the Year and All-Americans,” said MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller.
Adderley, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 81, is regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in football history. He starred at cornerback for the Green Bay Packers (1961-69) and the Dallas Cowboys (1970-72).
He was part of three Super Bowl championship teams (Super Bowl I and II with Green Bay, and Super Bowl VI with the Cowboys).
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980. He is one of three former Spartans in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with Joe DeLamielleure and Morten Andersen.
Adderley was first-team All-Big Ten at Michigan State in 1960 as an offensive star at left halfback, but he also played defensive back. He helped lead Michigan State to 6-2-1 record and a No. 15 ranking in the final Associated Press poll (tied for No. 11 in the coaches poll).
He led Michigan State in all-purpose yards and receiving yards as a junior and senior.
As a junior in 1959, Adderley led Michigan State in rushing (419 yards), receiving (13 catches with two TDs) and all-purpose yards while posting two interceptions on defense.
Michigan State finished in second place in the Big Ten during his junior year, going 4-2 but just 5-4 overall. Wisconsin won the Big Ten that season at 5-2 in the conference and 7-3 overall.
It’s unclear why Michigan State played only six Big Ten games in 1959 while finishing a half game behind the No. 6-ranked Badgers.
Michigan State finished the season ranked No. 16 in the country.
Adderley went 2-0-1 against Michigan and 2-0 against Notre Dame in his three years on varsity.
“First of all, my father loved Michigan State, and loved Coach Duffy Daugherty,” Herb’s daughter, Toni, said in a press release. “As a kid growing up, I heard him speak about (Duffy) a lot. Duffy, his high school coach (Charles Martin), and Coach (Vince) Lombardi, they had the most pivotal impact on his life in terms of his career. It means a lot (for Herb to be in the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame), especially with us losing him recently, just to know that he’s still being honored for his career in football.”
Adderley, a native of Philadelphia who played at Philadelphia Northeast High School, was selected in the first round of the 1961 NFL Draft (No. 12 overall).
“I think that was really the first time my dad really got out of Philly,” Toni said. “And to be able to go to Michigan State, a Big Ten school, and knowing the times and being a Black athlete, to go to a Big Ten school, that’s a lot in itself. And it said a lot about one, the coach recruiting him, and also his athletic ability.”
One of Adderley’s close friends on campus was Ernest Green, a member of the Little Rock Nine who attended MSU during the same time as Adderley.
“He (Ernest) and I have talked a lot since (Herb’s) passing,” said Toni. “(Ernest) mentioned to me, and I think this is a big thing that has stuck with me, especially during the times that we’re in right now, that my dad broke down a lot of barriers for the other Black students at Michigan State at that time. So it helped kind of bridge (some of the problems) – even though there were racial problems then as there are now – but just for him being an athlete that everybody loved and with the team winning games, I think that was a big thing that one, Mr. Green talked about to me, as well as my dad.”
Adderley was named the winner of the 1995 Duffy Daugherty Award, given annually from 1975-2005 to a Spartan alumnus who has distinguished himself in endeavors on and off the field after graduating from MSU.
“For me and my kids, I wish that he was still here – and he knew how much Green Bay Packer fans and Spartan fans loved him – but just to really, really talk to him about his legacy,” said Toni. “I think that he would be really excited.”
The MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, located in the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, opened on Oct. 1, 1999, and displays plaques of the 162 previous inductees. The charter class of 30 former Spartan student-athletes, coaches and administrators was inducted in 1992.
